Now that the busy week is over, I finally have a chance to reflect on the events of the Midwest Summer Institute in Chicago. I met so many outstanding educators from Michigan, Indiana, Wisconsin, Kansas, and Missouri, and I also had a chance to get to know the great DEN members from Illinois a little better as well. I heard many very positive comments about the event, and I hope that all who attended came away with some new friendships and a wealth of ideas to take back to their schools. There were too many events and experiences to summarize in detail, but here is a quick look at the Summer Institute:

Day One:Hall Davidson started us out with a wonderful and entertaining overview of the concept of digital stories and shared some great practical insights and sample stories to help us to begin the process of planning and creating our own projects. The combined dinner and presentation event was a great way for all of the participants to get to meet some new people and see old friends.

Day Two: We were very fortunate to have Will Richardson join us for the entire day and share his expertise on a variety of Web 2.0 topics including blogs, podcasts, wikis, and several other social networking tools that teachers can use for their own preparations and with projects they create for students. By the end of the day, we had many people creating their own blog posts for the first time and adding information to a wiki site that we created just for our Midwest Institute. Later, after a nice walk past many of the architectural wonders in Chicago, we feasted on classic Chicago deep dish and stuffed pizza at Giordano’s. Many people closed out the day on the observation deck at the Sears Tower or at an outdoor concert at Millennium Park featuring Yo-Yo Ma.

Day Three: Armed with all of the great information that Hall Davidson and Will Richardson had already shared with us, we dug in to focus on creating some original and compelling digital stories. Thanks to the many Discovery Educators who gave some great presentations on a variety of topics during the day: Joe Brennan (Illinois), Charlene Chausis (Illinois), Lori Franklin (Kansas), Patricia Hawkenson (Wisconsin), Anna Heffernan (Missouri), Eric Langhorst (Missouri), Laura Miller (Indiana), Rita Mortenson (Wisconsin), Mary Mueller (Missouri), Julie Myrmel (Michigan), Keith Schroeder (Wisconsin), and Diane Zoellmer (Michigan).

When you add to that some short presentations by Katherine Aiken, Sherri Bailey, and Steve Dembo from Discovery and some beginning work on the story projects, you can tell that we had a very full day at the University Center. Dinner and some blues music at the unique Kingston Mines Restaurant capped off the day’s events.

Day Four: With all of the main presentations completed, the participants now had a chance to really focus on their own stories. Armed with digital cameras, digital camcorders, and microphones, everyone headed out into the city or the meeting rooms to gather images, search for royalty-free music, and record the narrations for the projects. As an added opportunity, Rachel Yurk (Wisconsin) took several interested teachers to the new Smart Conference Center in Chicago to show them the latest interactive white board technology and new software features.

From there it was off to Navy Pier for a wonderful cruise on Lake Michigan and an evening on the Pier and Millennium Park. Some of the Illinois Discovery Educators followed their Michigan friends and used their hands as "portable maps" to point out their home towns.

Day Five: Thursday was show time for the Midwest Institute, and we spent a wonderful morning looking at a series of outstanding digital story projects. The subject matter and themes ranged from serious to humorous, and while some projects were more complete than others, it was clear that everyone had mastered the basics of storytelling with digital media. As I watched, I marveled at the creativity and energy that each person brought to the projects.

I had a great time this week, and I hope that all who attended had a very valuable and enjoyable experience as well. Thanks to Discovery and to Katherine Aiken, Linda Chiles, Kristin Furdak, and Jan Wee—my colleagues in the Discovery Educator Network—for their help and support in making the Summer Institute such a success.

Comments

Gina Loveless

Jun 30th, 2006

Everything that Dick talks about is SO true and even more breathtaking than words can explain. The one point he missed was the absolutely fantastic job all the DEN leaders did in organizing such a grand event. Hats off to all of the DEN leaders and Discovery staff that were a part of the Midwest Regional Institute. It was great getting to know such a special group of educators. Thanks again for such a great experience!!

Rachel Yurk

Jul 1st, 2006

Gina is right! All the experiences were way too wonderful to express. The friendships made, the amount of information we took in and the opportunities to experience the city of Chicago were all awesome. Thanks to all the DEN leaders for their hard work and planning to create a great event. What a great week!

Dawn Miles

Jul 4th, 2006

I agree as well! I have been practically attached to my laptop since returning home four days ago. I have set up my own personal blog at blogger.com; I have created a class blog using David Warlick’s blogmeister site; and, I have created a digital story about my trip to Chicago to share with my students. The DEN RI has certainly allowed me to grow as an educator and learn new things! THANK YOU!

Pam Nielson

Jul 18th, 2006

The DEN Midwest RI was absolutely fabulous (as everyone else has already stated). Unlike Dawn, when I returned from the RI, almost immediately I went on a two-week family vacation without internet access (ugh!). Only now in the last few days have I had a chance to re-read the info on the wiki (http://denri06.pbwiki.com/) and begin to reflect on my experiences.

I have so many new ideas, that I don’t know where to begin! I want to create a wiki for my Spanish class to contribute to, I want to create a blog for my language arts class to use in response to literature, I want to create podcasts that correlate to each chapter in my Spanish curriculum, I want to create a digital story to use as an example in teaching narrative writing…

Am I CRAZY??? Or am I just an excited DEN member? (Sometimes I feel like I have TADD – technology attention deficit disorder – because my mind races in so many directions with all of this new technology!)

Pam Fleming

Jul 26th, 2006

The Midwest Regional Summer Institute in Chicago was a wonderful event. THANKS to the DEN leaders and Discovery staff for putting together an awesome learning experience, and for allowing me the opportunity to participate. All involved, leaders and participants, were sharing ideas and offering assistance whenever needed. I have learned many new things and plan to implement the new technology into my curriculum.